The Science Media Centre and Mohawk Media will hit Palmerston North in July host a workshop on communicating scientific concepts in 90 second science videos aimed at an online audience and leveraging platforms like Youtube and Vimeo.

Great short videos can be produced using the high-definition camera built into your smartphone or tablet. How can you harness this technology to bring your science to life and what are the best ways to shoot, edit and distribute your video content?

The Mohawk team and Massey’s own in h-ouse videographers will answer all of your questions, give you some hands-on demos and introduce you to great tools that will help you in the video production process.

This workshop is free to attend, but is limited to 20 places – university and CRI researchers get top priority, but we welcome applications from people working in science-related fields in regional councils, NGOs, private research firms etc.

This is a competitive application process – the best applicants will be selected based on the video concepts outlined in the application form.

PRICE: Free – by invitation only – apply below (applications close June 24)

The workshop will cover:

Video – the medium of the moment – why it is so powerful?
The best science videos and why they went viral
Scripting and storyboarding short videos
Finding images and footage to make your video
DIY video – harnessing your smartphone to make great videos.
Software and tools you can use to get the best out of video
Go Pro – working with professional videographers to take video to the next level
Finding Funding – from grants to crowdfunding
Your video project – we will workshop your concept for an science video into a script, giving you expert feedback.

“The workshop was an excellent introduction to creative ways to convey science to the general public. I learnt so much its hard to quantify but mostly I would just like to say that it made things possible.” – Christchurch SAVVY participant

“I hoped to come away with a step by step of what’s involved in producing short science videos – this was well covered.” – Christchurch SAVVY participant

Science and social media make comfortable bedfellows according to the inaugural SMC Social Media Snapshot, which examines use of social media platforms by New Zealand institutions engaged in scientific research.

Most research institutions have some form of social media presence and several have amassed tens of thousands of followers, helping them to stay engaged with a broad audience who “share”, “like” and “favourite” their content.

Which institutions are using social media in the New Zealand science sector, what are the most popular social media platforms and who is making best use of them?

We tackled these question by undertaking an informal stocktake of social media usage, aiming to get a clearer picture of social media use by organisations involved in scientific research.

Our findings:

Around 90 per cent of the country’s 45 major research organisations engaged in scientific research have an official social media presence (at least one official social media account).

Twitter is the most popular social media platform among research institutions, followed by Facebook and Youtube.

Institutions most commonly have a presence on 2 or 3 social media platforms.

The University of Auckland, GeoNet and Te Papa have the most followers for Facebook, Twitter and Youtube respectively.

Smaller research groups within institutions have been slower to adopt social media, but Facebook is their preferred platform.

SMC Director, Peter Griffin, said the data collected show that research institutions are paying growing attention to their social media presence with the likes of Twitter and Facebook used not only to communicate new research findings, but to keep in touch with alumni and publicise courses and events.

“We are also seeing some institutions really starting to leverage social media to try and spread their content far and wide. They are coming up with compelling, short videos that are likely to play well on Facebook and riding the news cycle by tweeting commentary on topical news stories,” said Griffin.

“I expect to see more of this type of thing as the general approach of the New Zealand science sector to social media ramps up and becomes more sophisticated. Many organisations are now having a genuine, two-day interaction with followers on social media platforms which is great to see, as research suggests this is an increasingly important channel for Kiwis to find out information about science.”

The Science Media Centre has collated all the Twitter accounts covered in the snapshot into a handy Twitter list, available here. It is a work in progress so if there are any you think we missed, let us know by tweeting us @smcnz

The contribution of individual New Zealanders to science and society has been recognised in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday New Zealand Royal Honours.

Professor sir Peter Gluckman

Formally announced today, the list acknowledges a wide range of people who serve their communities and recognises those who have achieved something special.

Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, one of New Zealand’s leading, internationally recognised biomedical and medical scientists, and the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, has been made a Member of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ).

The appointment is New Zealand’s most senior honour, and ordinary membership is limited to a maximum of 20 living persons.

Further honours include:

Professor David Bibby, for services to science and education, was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Prof Bibby, currently Dean of Science and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Science, Architecture and Design at Victoria University, has contributed to science for more than 40 years. He is an advisor to the Science Media Centre.

Dr Michelle Dickinson, for services to science, was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM). Dr Dickinson is one of the world leaders in the field of nano-mechanical engineering and is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland. She is also actively engaged in communicating science to the public and writes the NanoGirl blog on Sciblogs.

Dr Gavin Ellis, was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Dr Gavin Ellis, a journalist for more than 40 years, was central to the transformation and modernisation of the country’s biggest newspaper, The New Zealand Herald, in his roles as editor and editor-in-chief from 1996 to 2005. Dr Ellis is also an advisor to the Science Media Centre.

For services to science, Mr Michael Macknight was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Mr Macknight is the inventor of MacLab, now known as PowerLab and the founder, in 1986 of ADInstruments.

The SMC congratulates all of those recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

He made it to ten years, and on reflection, he was bloody lucky to get there.

The axing of John Campbell’s show and his departure from Mediaworks is a real loss for journalism.

But it points to a larger shift in viewing habits and tastes of TV viewers who, we are told, are getting their hard news fix online during the day and therefore looking for something lighter and more entertaining in the evenings.

The switch from Close Up on One to Seven Sharp and now the demise of Campbell Live, are symbolic of that trend.

Campbell Live viewers may have rallied to support the embattled host and his team when news broke that the show was on the chopping block. But the trend has been negative for some time now and with Mediaworks under pressure to make a return for its investors, the realities of commercial TV have set in.

When Seven Sharp first appeared, some scientists told us they didn’t want to appear on it, because they were worried their science would be trivialised. But as the show bedded down it proved that science stories could be successfully delivered in the new format. A piece on sea level rise with climate scientist Dr Jim Renwick, for instance, was well executed and this Gill Higgins piece on the HPV vaccination was a great way to explore the issue through experiential journalism – a mother exploring whether to have her daughter vaccinated.

We will all miss the quality reporting delivered on Campbell Live, which often delved into science-related issues. It’s story last week on the research confirming previous mega-thrust earthquakes in New Zealand, for instance, was top-notch. We all remember the notorious interview Campbell did with “Moon Man” Ken Ring – a well-intentioned but disastrous attempt to call Ring out on his pseudoscience. But Campbell Live followed up the piece with a quality examination of why earthquakes are so hard to predict. That’s what we loved about Campbell Live – they weren’t into quick hits, they revisited stories again and again if necessary – witness the show’s support of the people of Christchurch in the wake of the earthquakes.

The 7pm slot of TV3 will no doubt bring us more infotainment and lighter content, similar to Seven Sharp. That will not be current affairs as we traditionally know if, but it is still a powerful vehicle to explore science, health and environment-related issues and in a way that meets the needs of TV viewers swamped with streaming and online viewing options.

John Campbell will go on to great things, as will the members of his talented team. Science communicators need to adapt to the changing media landscape and those changes are keeping us on our toes more than ever before.

A lot of science can be communicated in 90 seconds, which is why the SMC is helping researchers sum up their work quickly and clearly – on video.

Around 60 scientists throughout the country have so far participated in Science Media SAVVY Express, which sees the SMC video crew descend on science conferences, recording short interviews with conference attendees.

Over the course of 15 minute training sessions, we refine the interviews with helpful pointers and feedback from our team. The final video then becomes the scientist’s video calling card, something that can be embedded on a website or hosted on a Youtube channel.

The mainstream media is increasingly looking for video clips they can use to form part of an editorial package and the 90 second video is a popular format for social media and video platforms.

“We’ve had everyone from Distinguised Professor Peter Hunter through to science masters students get the Express treatment,” says SMC Manager Peter Griffin.

“It is amazing how with a bit of coaching over 15 minutes, a scientist can develop their message into something that can become a defining statement about their work and where they are going.”

Science Media SAVVY Express complements the SMC’s longer media training courses. We’ll be heading around the country throughout the year visiting more science conferences. If you’d like us to attend your conference to offer SAVVY Express training, contact the SMC.

The SMC is bringing its science animation workshop to Auckland and will also head to Christchurch to explore how scientists can harness short videos to communicate their science.

These free one-day workshops aim to give scientists and science communicators skills to harness off the shelf tools to create short animations and videos showcasing science concepts in innovative, entertaining and informative ways.

Wellington workshop participants brainstorming their ideas

ANIMATION WORKSHOP

WHERE: University of Auckland

WHEN: 9am – 5pm, Tuesday 14 April, 2015

PRICE:Free – by invitation only – apply below (applications close April 3)

Brought to you by University of Auckland microbiologist and Prime Minister’s Science Communications Prize winner, Dr Siouxsie Wiles and featuring the animation and infographics team from Mohawk Media. Some of the best animation ideas will receive funding to help get them into production!

The workshop would suit scientists or science communicators looking to build up their science animation skills and toolbox. Participants will need to bring an abstract of an idea to workshop into an animated video script, will learn about the animation writing and production process, and leave with a toolkit for producing their own animated videos.

This workshop is free to attend, but is limited to 20 places. This is a competitive application process – the best applicants will be selected based on the animation concepts outlined in the application form.

Please click on the link below to apply to attend the workshop. Lunch and refreshments are provided.

Go Pro – working with professional animators to take animation to the next level

Unpacking the best science animations – How were they put together? The creators explain

Going viral – publishing and promoting your animations

Finding Funding – from grants to crowdfunding

Your animation project – we will workshop your concept for an animated science video into a script, giving you expert feedback and… the opportunity to enter our Science Animation Showdown!

The Science Animation Showdown is a competition allowing attendees to pitch their animation project idea to win funding to get it into production. Up to three videos will be funded with the support of PM’s Science Communicator’s Prize winner Dr Siouxsie Wiles.

VIDEO WORKSHOP

The Mohawk Media crew will hit Christchurch with the SMC to host a workshop on communicating scientific concepts in 90 second science videos aimed at an online audience and leveraging platforms like Youtube and Vimeo.

Great short videos can be produced using the high-definition camera built into your smartphone or tablet. How can you harness this technology to bring your science to life and want are the best ways to shoot, edit and distribute your video content? The Mohawk team will answer all of your questions and introduce you to great tools that will help you in the video production process.

This workshop is free to attend, but is limited to 20 places. This is a competitive application process – the best applicants will be selected based on the video concepts outlined in the application form.

WHERE: University of Canterbury

WHEN: 9am – 5pm, Wednesday 15 April, 2015

PRICE:Free – by invitation only – apply below (applications close April 3)

The workshop will cover:

Video – the medium of the moment – why it is so powerful?

The best science videos and why they went viral

Scripting and storyboarding short videos

Finding images and footage to make your video

DIY video – harnessing your smartphone to make great videos.

Software and tools you can use to get the best out of video

Go Pro – working with professional videographers to take video to the next level

Finding Funding – from grants to crowdfunding

Your video project – we will workshop your concept for an science video into a script, giving you expert feedback.

These events are the latest in a series of Science Media SAVVY workshops that last year covered science blogging and science podcasting.

Bios of workshop presenters:

Dr Siouxsie Wiles

Dr Siouxsie Wiles describes herself as a microbiologist and bioluminescence enthusiast but to others she is “that pink-haired science lady”. Head of the Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab at the University of Auckland, Siouxsie combines her twin passions to understand infectious diseases. In a nutshell, Siouxsie and her team make nasty bacteria glow in the dark. Siouxsie is also interested in demystifying science for the general public; she is a keen tweeter, blogger, podcaster and radio commentator. In 2011Siouxsie began working with Australian graphic artist Luke Harris, and his team, to make a series of short animations describing nature’s amazing glowing creatures and the many uses of bioluminescence in science. Did you know NASA use fireflies to search for extraterrestrial life?! In 2012, Siouxsie won the New Zealand Association of Scientists Science Communication Award, and in 2013 the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science Media Communication and the Royal Society of New Zealand Callaghan Medal.

Helen & Chelfyn Baxter, Mohawk Media

Helen and Chelfyn produce animated infographics and web-friendly videos. They enjoy making data-driven stories and were science and technology commentators on Afternoons, Radio New Zealand for three years.

A science policy analyst with a first class Honors degree in genetics from the University of Otago is the Science Media Centre’s Science Journalism Fellow for 2015.

Steven Trask

Wellingtonian Steven Trask will receive up to $5,000 from the SMC towards funding his studies as well as support and mentoring through the year as he undertakes a post graduate diploma in journalism at Massey University.

“At the University of Otago I lustily flirted with chemistry, microbiology, zoology, psychology, human anatomy and biochemistry. And leaving these fields to eventually take up a degree in genetics was almost like breaking up with a girlfriend,” says Steven.

“In February I left my comfortable job as a policy analyst to pursue the other love in my life, journalism. Like any self-respecting scientist I’ve done the research, and I know that a career in journalism promises hard graft, long hours, and low pay. I will happily embrace this for the fulfilment of chasing a dream I’ve had since Mr Coxon praised one of my news articles in the fifth-form assembly.”

Steve adds: “To me ‘science’ isn’t necessarily a discrete news topic that garners one column a week on wacky research findings. Instead, it is the foundation for a huge variety and breadth of topics from human health, to the environment, to technology and business. There are some major debates looming in New Zealand; Climate change, the trade-off between agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability, and the emergence of new technologies which blur the lines of genetic engineering are just some of the things we will grapple with in the near future.

“These scream out for good science reporting, and this is why the Science Media Centre’s goal to ‘promote scientific accuracy…and enable the New Zealand media to tackle science-related issues’ resonates so strongly with me.”

Steven has worked for the last three years as a policy analyst in the Science and Innovation Policy team at the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment delivering policy advice on projects including the National Science Challenges and the establishment of the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre.

He was a research intern at Agresearch in 2009 and completed his Bachelor of Science degree in 2012. From 2010 – 2012, Steven was an advisor to first-year M?ori students at the University of Otago.

Now in its second year, the SMC’s Science Journalism Fellowship is designed to assist one person a year with a science background complete journalism training with a view to taking up a fulltime role in the mainstream news media in New Zealand.

“There are very few fulltime science journalism roles available in the New Zealand media,” says SMC Manager Peter Griffin. “But there is huge demand for science, health and environment-related stories, so those with a science background can thrive in newsrooms and bring their experience of science and the scientific process to the big issues the media re covering everyday.”

We wish Steven well for what will be a busy but rewarding year of study.

Q1: What is your favourite area of science, the one you love reading and writing about the most?

As an undergrad I had the chance to dabble in quite a few subjects – chemistry, zoology, anatomy, and psychology – and I remember each class would get a big sales pitch from the lecturers about studying in their department. I’m sure it was a big running joke, they would be saying things like “don’t go and study with those guys, look at the state of the labs! And they stink! But all our gear is really nice…”

I ended up choosing genetics because it had bits and pieces from all the other topics I liked. One day you might look at how wolves had evolved in ice age Alaska, the next it would be the genetic basis for human disease. The way that genetics cuts across a huge number of fields really appeals to me.

Q2: You’ve been working for the past few years in science-related policy at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. What made you want to leave a promising career in policy for journalism?

I suppose there was a really strong ‘now or never’ element to my decision. I’ve wanted to be a journalist since college, but for one reason or another I kept putting it off. I’m at the point now where, rather than waiting 10 years and wishing I’d given it a crack, I decided to take the leap.

I was a policy analyst for about a year and a half and really enjoyed it. It was interesting, challenging, and I had some great experiences. But I wanted to be a journalist more.

Q3: What would be your ultimate dream job in the media?

I haven’t yet me a journalist who didn’t wax lyrical about their job. Sure there are pitfalls, but the variety and intrigue of pounding the pavement as a reporter and sniffing out stories sounds like a pretty good place to start.

Q4: What are the big science-related issues facing New Zealand?

There are quite a few really polarising issues on the plate at the moment. Take climate change, pest management and conservation, or the interface between productivity and sustainability.

Q5: Where do you see yourself in five years?

I’ve been asked this question in every job interview I ever had and I still don’t have a good answer. I think back to when I was 18 and it strikes me how much can happen in five years. I could guess, but I would probably be wrong.

Scimex replaces our Resource Library, a place where journalists could download embargoed research papers and press releases that we flag in our twice-weekly mail outs to them. The Resource Library was a pretty basic but secure section of our website where we stored a lot of PDFs and Word documents – Scimex ups our game considerably.

Why did we develop Scimex? Well, a few reasons.

– We found New Zealand journalists weren’t generally registering with the large northern hemisphere journals, partly because they are not covering science every day. Scimex lets them get a lot of embargoed information in one place.

– There is a growing group of experts in New Zealand who see the value of science communication and want to engage with the media. A great way to start is to put a profile on Scimex.

– Journalists are constantly asking us what is coming up research and events wise, so they can better plan their news coverage. The Scimex newsfeed, and coming events calendar and multimedia library will assist there.

– New Zealand institutions are looking to make a bigger impact globally. Scimex is also accessed by 1,200 Australian journalists and may expand to other countries where SMCs exist, so can put New Zealand research in front of a global audience.

We have been busy agreeing partnerships with some of the major scientific journals from around the world, so we now have the permission to host a much great volume of embargoed content, easy to download from one central location.

Your science newsfeed

In addition to journal press releases and papers, we are also inviting local institutions to upload research-related press releases. In the Scimex newsfeed you’ll see a mix of stories from here and around the world, hand-picked by our media advisors based on their importance and relevance to New Zealand and the topical issues attracting headlines.

Scimex features a database of experts, people in institutions around the country who are expert in their field and have also signalled a desire to work with the media. We plan to grow this list of experts significantly in the coming months.

Some of the stories on Scimex will feature added multimedia items – photos and videos that may be useful in developing a story. All of the stories in the Scimex newsfeed will have contact details for all the point people who know about the research and releases.

If you are a journalist who has already signed the SMC’s embargo agreement, registering on Scimex is incredibly easy. We will be sending you an email containing a link that will take you to a registration page where you simply need to choose a new password to complete your registration.

Journalists not yet registered with us can sign up for Scimex here – there’s a short registration form to fill out.

The SMC will continue to send out its twice-weekly research update (currently called the Research Radar, but soon to be relaunched as SMC Picks), as well as expert reaction alerts as news breaks. A service allowing journalists to customise their own Scimex alerts is also in development.

Scimex for experts and media officers

As mentioned above, Scimex also features profiles from experts who can register to promote themselves, their areas of expertise and media experience. If you are an expert you would like to be profiled on Scimex, register and fill out your profile form now.

If you are a media officer representing a New Zealand research institution, Scimex will also be of interest to you. Register for the opportunity to post press releases and research papers to the Scimex newsfeed where it will reach an audience of engaged journalists seeking newsworthy, science-related stories.

In the next few weeks, we’ll roll out some new features on Scimex:

Multimedia library – A place where institutions ca upload stock images and videos, B-roll footage that might be useful to journalists. We’ll also curate some of the best science-related images from here and around the world that have been released under Creative Commons licences.

Events calendar – We’ll beef up our existing SMC Events Calendar and allow institutions to upload their own events creating a central source of science event listings that will help journalists plan their news coverage.

Once we are out of our “soft launch” phase, Scimex will also serve as a valuable public resource, will all of the embargoed releases and research blurbs (minus the research papers and multimedia items) accessible on the site by the public. Over time, we expect this to become a major archive of science-related stories of interest to New Zealanders.

Scimex has been over a year in development and was only possible thanks to the hard work of our colleagues at the Australian Science Media Centre, and sponsors including the Australian Government’s Inspiring Australia initiative and on this side of the Tasman, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

We’ll be fine-tuning Scimex over the next couple of months. We’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions for additional features.

A one-day workshop that gives you the skills to harness off the shelf tools to create short animated videos showcasing science concepts in innovative, entertaining and informative ways.

WHERE: CQ Hotel Conference Venue, Wellington (Note – a second animation research is scheduled for Auckland in April – date and venue TBC)

WHEN: 9am – 5pm, Wednesday 25 February, 2015

PRICE: Free – by invitation only – apply below (applications close February 15)

Brought to you by University of Auckland microbiologist and Prime Minister’s Science Communications Prize winner, Dr Siouxsie Wiles and featuring the animated infographics team from Mohawk Media, experienced documentary maker and journalist Alison Ballance and scientists who have tried their hand at producing animated videos.

The workshop would suit scientists or science communicators looking to build up their science animation skills and toolbox. Participants will need to bring an abstract of an idea to workshop into an animated video script, will learn about the animation writing and production process, and leave with a script and toolkit for producing their own animated videos.

This workshop is free to attend, but is limited to 20 places. This is a competitive application process – the best applicants will be selected based on the animation concepts outlined in the application form.

Please click on the link below to apply to attend the workshop. Lunch and refreshments are provided.

Go Pro – working with professional animators to take animation to the next level

Unpacking the best science animations – How were they put together? The creators explain

Going viral – publishing and promoting your animations

Finding Funding – from grants to crowdfunding

Your animation project – we will workshop your concept for an animated science video into a script, giving you expert feedback and… the opportunity to enter our Science Animation Showdown!

The Science Animation Showdown is a competition allowing attendees to pitch their animation project idea to win funding to get it into production. Up to three videos will be funded with the support of PM’s Science Communicator’s Prize winner Dr Siouxsie Wiles.

This is the latest in a Science Media SAVVY series of workshops that last year covered science blogging and science podcasting. A science video workshop will also be held later this year.

Bios of workshop presenters:

Dr Siouxsie Wiles

Dr Siouxsie Wiles describes herself as a microbiologist and bioluminescence enthusiast but to others she is “that pink-haired science lady”. Head of the Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab at the University of Auckland, Siouxsie combines her twin passions to understand infectious diseases. In a nutshell, Siouxsie and her team make nasty bacteria glow in the dark. Siouxsie is also interested in demystifying science for the general public; she is a keen tweeter, blogger, podcaster and radio commentator. In 2011Siouxsie began working with Australian graphic artist Luke Harris, and his team, to make a series of short animations describing nature’s amazing glowing creatures and the many uses of bioluminescence in science. Did you know NASA use fireflies to search for extraterrestrial life?! In 2012, Siouxsie won the New Zealand Association of Scientists Science Communication Award, and in 2013 the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science Media Communication and the Royal Society of New Zealand Callaghan Medal.

Helen & Chelfyn Baxter, Mohawk Media

Helen and Chelfyn produce animated infographics and web-friendly videos. They enjoy making data-driven stories and were science and technology commentators on Afternoons, Radio New Zealand for three years.

Alison Ballance

Alison Ballance, Radio New Zealand Producer and Presenter – Our Changing World

Alison Ballance is a zoologist, award-winning wildlife film-maker, natural history writer and passionate story-teller. She worked for NHNZ as a documentary film-maker from 1990 to 2008, and currently works for Radio New Zealand National in Wellington as co-producer and co-presenter of the weekly one-hour science and environment programme ‘Our Changing World’. She has produced more than 16 television documentaries, recorded and presented about 600 radio stories, and is working on her 29th book.